Text extracted from Gill B.J.; Bell, B.D.; Chambers, G.K.; Medway, D.G.; Palma, R.L.; Scofield, R.P.; Tennyson, A.J.D.; Worthy, T.H. 2010. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. 4th edition. Wellington, Te Papa Press and Ornithological Society of New Zealand. Pages 323 & 330-331.

Fossil Birds of New Zealand This Appendix lists birds recorded as fossils in New Zealand from sediments older than the Middle Pleistocene (≥1 Ma). It therefore includes material from the Kaimatira Pumice Sand of the Kai Iwi Group (Oxygen Isotope Stage 25–27, c. 1 Ma) found at Marton (Worthy 1997a). All younger fossil birds are members of the Recent fauna, are of species that persisted to human arrival and are covered in the main text. The pre-Pleistocene record of birds in New Zealand has until recently comprised mainly penguins, as reviewed by Fordyce (1991b). No marine taxa other than penguins and pelagornithids had been described, but rare procellariid bones were known (Worthy & Holdaway 2002). The record of Tertiary terrestrial avifauna was until recently restricted to two undescribed anatids from the Miocene of Otago (Fordyce 1991b). Renewed investigations of the Miocene deposits at St Bathans, Otago, have recovered a rich avifauna from lacustrine deposits comprising at least 24 taxa (Worthy et al. 2007). In addition to the taxa named below (a diving petrel and several waterfowl), the St Bathans Fauna includes the following unnamed taxa: ratite (eggshell), two rails (Rallidae), a possible aptornithid (?Aptornithidae), three parrots (Psittacidae), an eagle (Accipitridae), two pigeons (Columbidae), at least three waders (Charadriiformes), and several passerines (Passeriformes). The ages of several taxa have been revised in line with the revision of the New Zealand geological timescale (Cooper 2004).

Order PELECANIFORMES: Pelicans, Gannets, Cormorants and Allies Family PELAGORNITHIDAE Fürbringer: Bony-toothed Pelicans Pelagornithinae Furbringer, 1888: Untersuch. Morph. Syst. Vögel 2: 1565, footnote – Type genus Pelagornis Lartet, 1857.

Common names follow Gill & Martinson (1991). Fossil bones from Tangahoe Formation, Hawera, North Island, of Middle Pliocene age were described as the first record of pseudodontornids, possibly of Pseudodontornis, from the North Island (McKee 1985). McKee has reported the discovery of isolated pseudodontorn bones of Pliocene age from Hawera and Hawke’s Bay, North Island, in the Society of Avian Paleontology and Evolution Newsletter (SAPE) as follows: SAPE 4, 1990; SAPE 5, 1991; SAPE 10, 1996, first Miocene (9–10 Ma) North Island record; SAPE 12, 1998, two pelagornithid humeri; SAPE 13, 1999; SAPE 16, 2002. However, all remain undescribed.

Genus † Neodontornis Harrison & Walker Neodontornis Harrison & Walker, 1976: Tertiary Res. Spec. Pap. 2: 22 – Type species (by original designation) Pseudodontornis stirtoni Howard & Warter = Neodontornis stirtoni (Howard & Warter).

We use Neodontornis in preference to the Middle Miocene European genus Pseudodontornis Lambrecht, 1930, which is unknown from the Pacific Basin, following Matsuoka et al. (2003).

† Neodontornis stirtoni (Howard & Warter) Stirton’s False-toothed Pelican Pseudodontornis stirtoni Howard & Warter, 1969: Rec. Cant. Museum 8: 348 – Motunau Beach, North Canterbury. Neodontornis stirtoni (Howard & Warter); Harrison & Walker 1976: Tertiary Res. Spec. Pap. 2: 22.

Age uncertain, within the range Otaian to Waipipian Stage (Early Miocene–Pliocene; 21.7–3.0 Ma), probably Late Pliocene; Motunau Beach, North Canterbury (Howard & Warter 1969). A Pliocene age would make this the youngest named species in the family (Olson 1985b).